The Cuisine of the Riviera
Fragrant, Sensous and Inspired
A Food Steeped in History
"To eat this food is to find ancient connections to nature, to hear clearly that dialogue between the land and sea."
The roots of Riviera Cuisine begin in Genoa, a longtime maritime and trade power. The city was an important seaport hemmed in by mountainous and steep terrain. During its first fifteen hundred years, the city alternated between busy port and quiet fishing village. Vines, olive and chestnut trees, and small kitchen gardens dotted the countryside. Despite difficult growing conditions, difficult terrain, and a lack of water in the countryside, an unusual degree of culinary inventiveness formed the basis for a resourceful, peasant cuisine.
Wild and Herbaceous
Herbs – thyme, basil, rosemary fennel, oregano and a handful of others – are central to Ligurian cuisine and many grow wild. It's no wonder Ligurians call their cuisine la Cucina Profumata, the perfumed kitchen.
Nice and Genoa – Two Cultures, One Cuisine
While the Mediterranean cities of Genoa and Nice each claim a distinct cuisine, the two cities – both formerly of the House of Savoy – share a common tradition of dishes, recipes and ideas about food that taken together, form a sublime and inventive food – Riviera Cuisine.
It was Genoa that first gave Italy and the world basil pesto, ravioli, focaccia and minestrone. Not to be outdone, Nice gave rise to specialties like ratatouille, Daube of beef, aioli, and bouillabaisse.
Genoese classics include pansotti with walnut sauce, trenette with basil pesto, and stuffed breast of veal with salsa verde. Nice dishes include pissaladiere, a pizza-like tart with anchovies and olives, Swiss chard gratin and salad Nicoise. A number of dishes from each city are essentially identical: in Nice, pesto is known as pistou; for the French, gnocchi is pātes fraīches. Farinata, a Genoese chickpea-flour crepe served with black pepper and olive oil, is twin to the Nicoise specialty, socca.
